When Jade Breen's mum handed her a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird and said "You should read it" the Canberra teenager had no idea just a few months later she would be playing Scout, one of literature's most-loved characters.
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"I feel like it's an honour to be playing such a famous role," she said.
The 13-year-old joins Jamie Boyd as Jem and Jake Keen as Dill as the children in the enduring tale of racial inequality and innocence lost in the 1930s America south. The play, adapted from Harper Lee's novel, is now being performed by the Canberra Rep at Theatre 3 until April 13.
Michael Sparks, starring as upstanding lawyer Atticus Finch, says all three teenagers have been a delight to work with.
"They bring talent and enthusiasm and a kind of curiosity to the performance," he said.
"Each of them has a curiosity about who they are and how their character fits into the world.
"And working over the process of the rehearsals and watching how they develop and how their characters develop, it's been really fascinating.
"And, I mean, you can be the best Atticus in the world but the show's not going to work unless you've got great kids and we've got great kids."
Jamie, 16, who attends Dickson College and Jess, a student at Daramalan College, said the Christchurch shootings in a mosque earlier this month had shown that the irrational fear of the other seen in To Kill a Mockingbird was still prevalent today.
"We talked about it as a school, in class our teachers reminded us to remember this had happened and there could be people affected by this," she said.
"But at my age, it's not something that people really know how to approach. I don't think many of my friends are aware of what's happening in the world today, they're mostly oblivious."
Jess said after Christchurch she was remembering "how important it is for us to do this [play]".
Jake, 14, a student at Saint Mary MacKillop College, said he hoped people their own age would come to see To Kill a Mockingbird.
"At the start, I didn't really how relevant the story is now," he said.
"From what happened [in Christchurch], I feel it's a really, really important show. That's why we want the younger generation to come and see the show. I feel that will really influence what happens next."
Some schools were already booked in to watch the performance.
"I think it's really important schools are coming because even now, I see students my age being really racist to other people and that's why so important that we convey this message, especially to younger audiences," Jess said.
Tickets canberrarep.org.au or 6257 1950.
